‘People should be allowed to do what they like’: Autistic adults’ views and experiences of stimming

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. two authors of this publication are identified as autistic in the project.

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Kapp, S. K., Steward, R., Crane, L., Elliott, D., Elphick, C., Pellicano, E., & Russell, G. (2019). ‘People should be allowed to do what they like’: Autistic adults’ views and experiences of stimming. Autism, 23(7), 1782-1792. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361319829628

Journal or book title
Autism
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Volume
23
Issue
7
Pages
1782-1792
Publication date: 28 Feb 2019 Added to AutiHub: 6 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
7
Publication authors identified as autistic
2 / 7 (28.6%)
  1. Steven K. Kapp *
  2. Robyn Steward *
  3. Laura Crane
  4. Daisy Elliott
  1. Chris Elphick
  2. Elizabeth Pellicano
  3. Ginny Russell

Abstract

'Stereotyped or repetitive motor movements' are characterised as core features in the diagnosis of autism, yet many autistic adults (and the neurodiversity movement) have reclaimed them as 'stimming'. Supported by a growing body of scientific research, autistic adults argue that these behaviours may serve as useful coping mechanisms, yet little research has examined stimming from the perspective of autistic adults. Through interviews and focus groups, we asked 32 autistic adults to share their perceptions and experiences of stimming, including the reasons they stim, any value doing so may hold for them and their perceptions of others' reactions to stimming. Using thematic analysis, we identified two themes: stimming as (1) a self-regulatory mechanism and (2) lacking in social acceptance, but can become accepted through understanding. Autistic adults highlighted the importance of stimming as an adaptive mechanism that helps them to soothe or communicate intense emotions or thoughts and thus objected to treatment that aims to eliminate the behaviour.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 2 Oct 2026 17:07.

Cited references
70
With a DOI
51
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
14
9 / 70 (12.9%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
10 / 70 (14.3%)
References with detected author names
64 / 70 (91.4%)
Without detected author names
6
Without a structured title
10
Without a stable identifier
13
References with raw author names still to review
6
References with external metadata lookup issues
1
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
150
From DOI or external metadata
150
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
6
41 / 150 (27.3%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 109 / 150 (72.7%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
10 / 150 (6.7%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 10 / 41 (24.4%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 8 / 138 (5.8%).
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